Chapter 2026: Exposed |
Lania—that familiar name—made Anthony and the others pause for a moment, but Anthony quickly suppressed his surprise and said calmly, "Who is he?"
"He is the ruler of the Lania Branch Road." As the Sixth Divine Star spoke, it lifted up a cluster of phantom light. Within the phantom, a gigantic blue Light Ball was slowly radiating Divine Light.
This was already the second time Anthony had seen a God Star of a different color; the vast majority of God Stars shone with yellow light, just like Holy Light.
Most likely Holy Light chose that color in order to imitate sunlight; as long as the light is the same color as the Sun, everyone naturally associates it with purity.
So why would a God Star be blue?
Anthony didn’t ask, because the Sixth Divine Star had taken them for Ghost Guides. If they were Ghost Guides, they wouldn’t ask this kind of common-sense question. He’d ask Luomu Luo’er later.
But Luomu Luo’er had previously only been an Attached Star, like a foolish tenant farmer of the landlord’s family, knowing nothing at all. He probably wouldn’t get much out of him either. He’d just disguise himself again and buy intel from other Star Descendants later.
While these thoughts ran through his mind, his face stayed impassive as he asked, "Why did he become your enemy?"
"He is the enemy of all the God Stars in the entire branch. He has already conquered the whole branch. Any God Star unwilling to submit will be attacked by him in concert with other God Stars, until it is detonated, or reduced to a Dark Star," the Sixth Divine Star said.
Entering the Land of the Infinity was an extremely perilous move. Luomu Luo’er entered the Land of the Infinity and had his consciousness imprisoned by Ange; the twelve Dark Stars including Mei Lania also entered the Land of the Infinity and were imprisoned by Gemez Fortress. The misfortune rate was a full hundred percent, the risk level off the charts.
For him to still send twelve Dark Stars at once on such a dangerous operation spoke volumes about the degree of his control over the branch.
And one shouldn’t underestimate Dark Stars. Dark Stars were merely somewhat weaker God Stars. They were independent individuals, unlike Luomu Luo’er, who existed only by attaching himself to a main star.
The process of conquest had surely left countless dead and wounded; Anthony could guess with his toes why the Sixth Divine Star would treat Lania as an enemy.
Anthony thought for a moment, then asked, "How does he rule you? Through an imprint on your consciousness? Why were you not conquered?"
The Dark Stars like Mei Lania, who had entered the Land of the Infinity, did not bear any consciousness imprint, because the Land of the Infinity would sever all connections. They had to first annul their Soul Contact, then, based on the size of the Gate of No Boundary, shape an appropriate avatar before they could enter.
The process was extremely troublesome, with too many constraints and immense risk.
The Sixth Divine Star said leisurely, "I’m already very old. God Stars as aged as we are are extremely dangerous."
"Uh... got it," Anthony said, suddenly enlightened.
If this had been before they encountered Dis, no one would have understood what that meant. After all, in the world of living beings, aging means you’re easier to bully and easier to hunt.
Even the Gray Divine Star never had a particularly ferocious phase; rumor had it once he had the chance to change into a new God Star body, he would immediately discard his original body.
But in this world, the aged God Stars were truly vicious. Dis was a dignified Giant God Star, a Branch Lord no less, and when he said he’d self-detonate, he actually did, just to release an Information Storm.
Although his goal had been to overwrite Ange’s memories and achieve a kind of alternative takeover, in essence his consciousness still perished; yet he didn’t hesitate in the slightest—decisive and ruthless.
From Dis alone one could feel just how savage the aged God Stars of this world were. If they were willing to blow themselves up, there really weren’t many who dared provoke them.
The Sixth Divine Star might be old, but that didn’t mean weak. His incremental growth had ended, but his stock was still there. One or two God Stars couldn’t take him down; if too many God Stars drew near, he’d just self-detonate. It was indeed a headache.
So right now, four God Stars in the Lania Branch Road were staying at a safe distance, continuously breeding Star Descendants and Star Flame Warriors, then trekking over long distances to attack the Sixth Divine Star and wear down his power.
After these four God Stars consumed him for a while, another four God Stars would rotate in to take over. With such rotation, in less than a few tens of thousands of years, the Sixth Divine Star would be completely exhausted.
God Stars had both increment and stock. Appropriately consuming stock wouldn’t damage their total volume. But the Sixth Divine Star was being worn down by the others in turns; he himself was already aged, possessing only stock and no increment, so he would just rapidly burn out.
Because the others stayed at a safe distance, even if the Sixth Divine Star wanted to perish together with them, he couldn’t. Whenever he moved, they would pull away from him at an even faster speed, always maintaining a safe distance.
At this point, Anthony couldn’t help saying, "Then why don’t you just chase them? If you make them run, they’re forced to consume energy. You alone draining the energy of four of them is better than standing there getting beaten."
The Sixth Divine Star, however, replied, "No. They’ve formed a multi-star system and can mutually pull on each other to construct a Star Bridge. It costs them much less to move than it costs me."
Star Bridge? Those Dark Stars like Mei Lania had also constructed a Star Bridge, rapidly traveling from Gemez Fortress to the vicinity of the Little Fireman Divine Star. It seemed Star Bridges had a great advantage in long-distance movement.
A Star Bridge required multiple God Stars to share Soul Contact. The more God Stars involved, the more energy-efficient the movement.
In the Information Blind Box game before, the Third God Star had said that the Balun Road was forming a Divine Star Alliance—could it be for the sake of constructing a Star Bridge?
The original Void had been quiet and harmonious. Because it was so vast, and God Stars carried their own increment, there was no competition for living space. Everyone stayed where they were and did not infringe upon one another.
But ever since the Time-Space Ancient Dragon and Exotic Ghosts appeared, everything changed. For the sake of survival, God Stars began displaying all kinds of tricks, and mutual alliances became commonplace.
Not only was the Balun Road forming a Divine Star Alliance, the Lania Branch Road had even begun purging dissenters. In the future, such Divine Star Alliances would only grow more numerous. Even just to run a bit faster and to consume less energy, a large number of God Stars would band together.
Thinking this, Anthony no longer hesitated and instead asked, "If you’re hiring us to assassinate Lania, what can you offer?"
The Sixth Divine Star said, "You will receive my Star Soul Seal."
In the Soul Network, Negris remarked, "Star Soul Seal means Stacked Pieces? They call Stacked Pieces ’Seals’?"
Anthony chuckled. "Your Star Soul—I can obtain it by killing you; I don’t need to kill Lania for that."
The Sixth Divine Star said, "Most God Stars in the Lania Branch Road have already established Soul Contact with Lania. Kill him, and you will gain the Star Soul Seals of all the God Stars that have bonded with him."
At this point, the Sixth Divine Star’s tone suddenly changed. "Are you really Ghost Guides? You don’t even know this? When you heard they’d established Soul Contact, shouldn’t your first question have been asking me where Lania is?"
Anthony’s heart gave a jolt. They’d slipped up.